Obama: I'll finish the Afghan job

President Barack Obama has settled on a new course for the eight-year war in Afghanistan that he said Tuesday will “finish the job” and that he will announce to Americans after Thanksgiving.

“After eight years, some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job,” Obama said at a news conference following his meeting with the prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh. “And I feel very confident that when the American people hear a clear rationale for what we're doing there and how we intend to achieve our goals, they will be supportive.”

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The president would not confirm reports that he will make his announcement in a prime-time address next Tuesday, Dec. 1, saying only that he’d announce his plan “shortly.”

Obama's decisions about his strategy are not known. But administration officials expect him to announce an increase of 20,000 to 40,000 additional troops in Afghanistan, a victory for his commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

McChrystal has argued that "success is achievable" in Afghanistan with proper resources, and 40,000 troops was his middle — and preferred — recommendation in a set of three options he presented in his own strategic review. They would join 68,000 U.S. troops there now.

Obama, who Monday night held his ninth and final meeting on an Afghanistan strategy in the situation room, said the new course will include “civilian and diplomatic efforts” and will “make sure that Al Qaeda and its extremist allies cannot operate effectively” in the region.

“And Afghanistan's stability is important to that process,” he said.

Obama cast the strategy in global terms, saying it not only is important to the United States but will also impact the international community.

“And so one of the things I'm going to be discussing is the obligations of our international partners in this process,” he said.

The president hinted that his strategy for winding down the Afghanistan war could be similar to the plan for drawing down U.S. troops in Iraq.

“It's going to be very important to recognize that the Afghan people ultimately are going to have to provide for their own security,” Obama said, “and so we'll be discussing that process whereby Afghan security forces are properly trained and equipped to do the job.”

Obama said the process he’s gone through to get to this point “has been comprehensive and extremely useful.”

The decision on Afghanistan is shaping up as one of the most momentous of Obama’s presidency, coming as the public is turning negative toward the war effort and his fellow Democrats are growing increasingly vocal in their opposition to a troop buildup in Afghanistan.

Later next week, McChrystal, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be deployed to Capitol Hill to testify about the strategy. Others likely to take part in hearings are Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry.